The invention relates generally to a coil collecting station for wire-rod mill trains with a coil-forming chamber.
In wire-rod mill trains of this general type, the wire windings produced in a winding former are transported spread-out to the coil-forming chamber via a suitable transport system such as a roller bed through an air cooling section. The coil-forming chamber consists of the so-called pre-collector, the collecting pin proper and a limiting cage surrounding said collecting pin for limiting the coil toward the outside. A plurality of flaps are usually disposed between the pre-collector and the collecting pin, which permit, in swung-in position, the discharging, i.e. removing of a just coiled-up collecting pin, whereas, in the meantime, newly arriving wire windings fall at first upon said flaps.
In a known station of the said class (DE-OS No. 35 25 089), the collecting pin consists of a tube provided with a rounded-off head profile at which protruding lateral guide bodies are provided on opposite sides. A U-shaped segment is firmly connected with said tube. Another corresponding segment is provided radially displaceable on the lower side of the tube in coil transfer position. The latter segment is pivoted to an arm of a two-arm lever each, which in turn carries a pull rod and is firmly connected to the said tube.
In the case of the known collecting station with variable envelope diameter of the collecting pin it is, however, not possible to effect the diameter variation of the pin on the one hand, and its swing from the loading position to the discharging position on the other hand by means of a single drive element.
The double-lever arrangement is felt to hamper a reliable mode of operation and the constructive effort is considered to be too high.
In this respect, it is the task of the invention, to develop the known station in a manner that a constructively simplified pin build-up with a correspondingly simplified actuation possibility will ensue.
The spreadability of the collecting pins is characterized by a simple mechanism which is therefore not prone to failures, with only a slightly increased constructive effort. The required movable parts are restricted to a minimum required and are disposed within said coil so that they are reliably protected against the still very hot wire during the collecting process. A further especially advantageous feature is, that the variation of the diameter of the collecting pin or of each collecting pin respectively is actuated via the same drive element with which the pins are swingable into and respectively out of the loading station into the discharging position.
Details of the device according to the invention are further described in the following description, taking reference to the respective drawings which show an advantageous and only typical embodiment.